This invention relates to combined capacitor discharge ignition and alternator auxiliary power systems for internal combustion engines, and deals more particularly with such a system wherein power for charging the ignition capacitor, for triggering an electronic switch element controlling the discharge of the capacitor and for providing an auxiliary power output are provided by separate coils of a generator driven by the engine.
In the capacitor discharge ignition portion of a system of the type with which this invention is concerned, a capacitor after being charged is discharged, in proper timed relation to the operation of the engine, through the primary winding of an ignition transformer to fire a spark plug connected to the transformer's secondary winding. The capacitor is connected to the transformer's primary winding through a silicon controlled rectifier, or other triggered electronic switch element, and its discharge is controlled by a trigger signal supplied to the switch element.
The present invention concerns primarily an improved generator for providing electrical power to charge the capacitor and to trigger the electronic switch element of an ignition circuit such as aforesaid, and for also providing an auxiliary power output for battery charging, lights or other purposes. In particular, an object of this invention is to provide a combined capacitor discharge ignition and auxiliary power system having an improved generating means for producing power for charging the system's capacitor, for triggering the system's electronic switch at proper times in the operating cycle of the associated engine, and for providing an auxiliary output for lighting, battery charging or the like. In keeping with this object, a more specific object is to provide such a generator having a rotor with a permanent magnet means providing a single array of magnetic pole faces which cooperates with a charging coil, a trigger coil and an auxiliary power coil so that the pole faces induce capacitor charging voltages in the charge coil, induce triggering voltages in the trigger coil, and induce auxiliary power voltages in the auxiliary power coil with properly timed discharges of the capacitor being achieved despite the fact that a number of trigger pulses are induced in the trigger coil each time the magnet pole face array passes the trigger coil.
Another object of the invention is to provide a combined capacitor discharge ignition and alternator auxiliary power system having a generator which is capable of assuring adequate charge of the capacitor even at relatively low engine speeds as a result of the capacitor being charged, during each charging cycle, by a plurality of charging pulses.
Another object of the invention is to provide a system such as aforesaid wherein the generator includes a plurality of auxiliary power output coils energized by the same magnet means as energizes the charge and trigger coils and wherein the number of magnetic pole faces provided by the permanent magnet means is of a relatively large number, to provide a high output from the auxiliary power coils, without adversely effecting the capacitor charging and discharge timing functions of the charge and trigger coils.
Another object of the invention is to provide a generator for a capacitor discharge ignition which may be fabricated to either provide or not provide an auxiliary power output by either including or not including a stator segment or segments carrying auxiliary power coils in a basic generator structure.
A still further object of the invention is to provide a system of the aforesaid character wherein the trigger coil of the generator also serves as the primary winding of the ignition transformer and is mounted on a stator pole of the generator along with the secondary coil of the transformer to form a unitized compact arrangement of parts.
Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description and from the drawings forming a part hereof.